Turn-based game

A turn-based game, also known as turn-based strategy, is a game where the game flow is partitioned in well-defined and visible parts, called turns or rounds. For example, when the game flow unit is time, turns represent unis of time, like years, months or days. A player of a turn-based game is allowed a period of analysis before committing to a game action, ensuring a separation between the game flow and the thinking process, which in turn leads presumably to better solutions. Once every player has taken his turn, that round of play is over, and any special shared processing, is done. This is followed by the next round of play.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TBS games come in two flavors, depending on whether inside a turn players play simultaneously or take their (mini-)turns. The former games fall into the simultaneously-executed TBS games, with Diplomacy a notable example. The latter games fall into player-alternated TBS games, and are subsequently subdivided into (a) ranked, (b) round-robin start, and (c) random, the difference being the order under which players start within a turn, (a) the first player being the same every time, (b) the first player selection policy is round-robin, and (c) the first player is randomly selected.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Most board games are turn-based, otherwise gameplay would most likely get out of hand. Many single-player strategic video games are also turn-based. However, when a particular player gains access to the game during his/her turn it is not uncommon to value the time taken by the player to make the move to improve the fairness of the game. In Chess, a pair of stop clocks may be used to track the time taken by players to make their moves.

Related Topics:
Board games - Strategic - Chess

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Turn-based gaming refers to Internet gaming sites that allow for game play to extend beyond a single session, over long periods of time—often taking months for complex games like Go or Chess to finish.

Related Topics:
Internet gaming - Go

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~